Comments on: Signposts

By: dan

dan — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 16:15:27 +0000

Thanks for the info. The song, it appears, was written by Chicho S´nchez Ferlosio, a Spanish songwriter, and was made famous in a recording by Chilean nueva canción singer Victor Jara. The full lyrics of the song, originally titled “La hierba de los caminos” though later retitled as “Que la tortilla se vuelva”, are:

La hierba de los caminos
la pisan los caminantes
y a la mujer del obrero
la pisan cuatro tunantes
de esos que tienen dinero.

Qué culpa tiene el tomate
que está tranquilo en la mata
y viene un hijo de puta
y lo mete en una lata
y lo manda pa’ Caracas.

Los señores de la mina
han comprado una romana
para pesar el dinero
que toditas las semanas
le roban al pobre obrero.

Cuándo querrá el Dios del cielo
que la tortilla se vuelva
que los pobres coman pan
y los ricos mierda, mierda.

By: schussheim

schussheim — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:05:49 +0000

“Que culpa tiene el tomate…” it’s an old republican spanish song from the days of the Civil War (1936-1939).
On the other hand, welcome the billboard removal!

By: dan

dan — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:24:16 +0000

In reality, I too like the idea of the removal of most of the billboard type advertising, though, of course, it’s likely to yield to something else to simply replace it. I remember when they removed a huge number of billboards in New York City about twenty years ago – landlords just rented out the sides of their buildings to be re-painted with adverts, which in the end is actually uglier than the billboards were, since most of what gets done are simple large point text ads rather than anything with graphics to it, and truly covered up much of the architecture.

By: BANightlife

BANightlife — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 01:32:40 +0000

I think it will be very refreshing to have the city clear of billboard advertising which covers up much of the nice old architecture at present. At the same time though it also covers up much of the ugly 60′s and 70′s architecture too at present which is a good thing. I heard they did the same in the city of Brasilia also, which is now completely clear of any billboard advertising whatsoever – I like the sound of it.